Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Doing the little things

Bobby Abreu was standing at his locker last night and talking about how the Yankees are going to be able to do the little things to win ballgames this year — bunt runners over, steal bases, hit-and-run a little bit more. He didn’t out-and-out criticize Joe Torre, that’s not Abreu’s style, but it was clear that the long-time National Leaguer liked what he saw out of the Yankees.

The more you see out of Phil Hughes, also, there’s more reason to be encouraged about his bright future. Hughes carries himself like a veteran and looked sharp with both his fastball and curve last night, turning in a quality start against the Blue Jays.

Tonight Ian Kennedy, the least heralded of the Big Three, gets his turn against the Rays. Kennedy was telling us a story yesterday about how he went to an Outback Steakhouse with Joba Chamberlain, who gets recognized everywhere he goes. Someone offered Chamberlain a free dessert, which he happily scarfed down. Kennedy, sitting at the same table and with three big league starts under his belt, got no such special treatment.

Today, April 4, is my birthday, and here’s my favorite gift so far — the DVD of Billy Joel’s Yankee Stadium show in 1990, which I’ve got on the surround sound right now as the Pianoman cranks out “New York State of Mind.” I’ve seen Billy twice in concert – once at the Garden and once at the facility formerly known as the Continental Airlines Arena – and he’s always a bet for a great show. This is a nice trip down memory lane.

Igawa is about one more failure in the big leagues from being a lost cause. It’s go time for him. We may have to count on 1 or more pitchers coming out of AAA for several starts this season, if Andrew can’t stay healthy.

Guys, I wouldn’t worry about the offense. Toronto has one of the most under-rated rotations in the big leagues, and we managed to take 2 of 3. I will guaranty a surge in offense next series v. those losers in Tampa Bay. The thing I’m taking out of the first series of the season, is “find a way to win”. It’s not like this is a video game where you may be disappointed in failing to score 15 runs while your starter chucks a 2 hit shutout. All’s that matters in that big, fat “W”. We only have 98 more wins to go before the Yanks fulfill my projection for this season. Win ugly, win pretty, just freaking win.

Happy Birthday Bryan….
Didn’t we start last year with the idea of small ball, If it helps win ball games, I’m all for it. It does appear we need it, the bats have been pretty silent. Only 7 runs in 3 games. It’s going to difficult winning games that way. With our potential offense we should be scoring 4/5 runs per. Luckily the pitching has been doing a good job. I see Igawa did well in his start, I do hope he can continue and possibly come up and do the same here or maybe a better trade bait.
“GO YANKEES”

Happy B-Day Brian, I really enjoy your blog I check it every day, my girlfriend thinks I’m a bit obsessive with baseball and the Yankees, she’s probably right but everybody here has great insight to the game and everything. I can’t agree more with Abreu, small ball is the way to win championships and that’s what we measure ourselves by. Joe G. wears number 27 and he’s proving that’s what he’s here for. Also my family is going to the Billy Joel concert at the Mohegan Sun and I’m pumped. Should be a great show, he’s a great entertainer enjoy the DVD and your day.

Happy Birthday Bryan, anyway it was nice to see some small ball from the Yankees last night, that was an element I knew Girardi would bring to this team. And Phil looked great, I love that guy. Chamberlain was scarfing down desserts? I thought he was on a diet….Oh and good luck to the North Carolina Tarheel in the final four in this weekend!
On a side note: It is a trip to see Kerry Wood as a closer for the Cubs.

Back in time

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